Catholics settle into new churches after closings, mergers

Sunday

Nov 30, 2008 at 12:01 AMNov 30, 2008 at 8:21 PM

More than a year after a long list of closings and mergers were announced in the Roman Catholic Diocese of Syracuse, N.Y., church officials said the changes have created a stronger, more vibrant religious community.

Courtney Potts

More than a year after a long list of closings and mergers were announced in the Roman Catholic Diocese of Syracuse, N.Y., church officials said the changes have created a stronger, more vibrant religious community.

As of Sept. 1, the number of parishes in the diocese had dropped from 171 in 2000 to 142, said the Rev. James Lang, director of pastoral planning. Another 22 still are scheduled to close.

Low attendance, partially due to shrinking populations, and a worldwide shortage of priests contributed to the need for consolidation.

The neighboring Roman Catholic Diocese of Albany is also in the process of discussing parish changes. However, church officials from the Syracuse diocese said closings and mergers can often have a happy ending.

‘There’s a sense of energy’

While parish closings can be traumatic for those affected, Lang said the end result has been positive.

“When parishes are merged together so they have a community that's large enough for them to accomplish their goals ... there's a sense of energy there that was lacking before,” he said.

Connie Watkins, a parishioner at St. Mary of Mount Carmel/Blessed Sacrament Church in Utica, N.Y., said she saw that change when her home parish of Blessed Sacrament merged with St. Mary.

“It was quite an adjustment because something so familiar being taken away from you, that in itself is a lot,” Watkins said.

“But as hard as that was, coming to Mount Carmel, it was a very loving and supportive family.

“That's what we all are now.”

Wherever they may roam

Many congregants do not automatically switch churches as planned, however, and instead shop around. Priests have nicknamed those people “Roamin' Catholics.”

Others, though, may stop going to church.

“There's always a group of some size that are just really thrown off by the fact that all of this has happened,” Lang said. “And their pastors, being shepherds, chase them down to make sure they're OK.”

Lang said the diocese is aware of how difficult parish changes can be for congregants. All mergers and closings are the result of years of careful planning, he said. And during that planning, Diocese officials also must weigh years of tradition against business concerns.

“There's a happy association with places at the same time that there's a sense of reality that settles into people,” Lang said.

He admitted there’s a sadness to leaving the structures parishioners are used to attending, but, “People seem to understand that we're at a real critical point,” he said.

Changes within

A priest shortage has also created changes within the diocese. That shortage has created more reliance on laypeople, Lang said.

Holy Trinity in Utica, for example, has lost three priests but now has a non-clergy director of religious education.

Lang said non-clergy church officials are an important and valued part of the equation.

“We don't see the members of the laity who are doing very professional things very well as filling a gap,” he said. “We see it as them taking their role.”

More mergers ahead?

The Roman Catholic Diocese of Albany is still discussing moving forward with its own mergers.

Suggestions made by local planning groups were submitted to Bishop Howard Hubbard, and an announcement on his decisions is expected in mid-January, said Ken Goldfarb, diocese communications director.

In a statement made at the beginning of the process, Hubbard said it should be viewed as “an opportunity for imagining and creating our future.”

He also said that preserving faith is more important than preserving physical structures.

Resident Sue Freitas agreed.

“Religion is a relationship with the Lord,” she said. “The relationship is with the Lord and he is wherever you go.”

Freitas belongs to St. Joseph & St. Patrick Church in Utica but was a member of St. Francis de Sales Church before it merged with Historic Old St. John's.